Thankful

While yesterday was not X's first Thanksgiving, he was a much more active participant this year than he was last year. We had the pleasure of spending the holiday afternoon with one of my oldest friends and her family -- sort of my surrogate family. It was a really lovely afternoon, but the hubs and I were typical anxious first-time parents -- of a toddler. We never quite relaxed while X investigated every nook and cranny of the strange new house where we spent the afternoon. A lot of "Don't touch!" and "Come over here!" and "No-no!" while we took turns running behind X, bent over at the waist. Meanwhile Mr. & Mrs. M., my friends' parents, kept telling us, "It's okay. We know how it goes with toddlers!" We just never could quite let our guard down the way we would at home or even a more familiar friend's home. Nonetheless, it was a nice afternoon -- spending Thanksgiving in a place where we felt welcome and loved is truly a gift.

It got me thinking, though. We are still a pretty new family, and we haven't yet established any holiday traditions. I think that next year, we will begin celebrating Thanksgiving at our own house. Even if it's just the three of us. Traditions have to start somewhere, right? We'll start small. Maybe in time we will be able to repay the favor to those who have taken us in over the years, so we didn't have to spend a holiday on our own.

Baptism

Today we had X baptized at our parish church, St. Andrew the Apostle. The baptism was during the Mass, and he was one of four babies receiving the sacrament today.

The whole thing was kind of a blur for me. I did note, though, that the water in the baptismal font was heated! So, it wasn't such a shock for the little ones, and nobody cried at the water being poured over their heads. Irish tradition says that it is lucky if the baby cries at his christening, because he's howling out all the bad spirits. Well, X didn't cry. In fact, he seemed pretty amused by the water, and the anointing oil, and all the people clapping and smiling at him.

Then, he fell asleep! It was the 9:30 a.m. Mass, after all. He is usually ready for his morning nap around 10:00 or 10:30 a.m., so...

In all, it was a lovely thing. My good friend that I have known since middle school came to stand up as his godmother, and my father-in-law stood in as proxy for his godfather, who couldn't be here. Funny enough, his godfather is his cousin, who is 25 years old! X was a surprise in many ways to us all.

We followed with a luncheon at our house, and X stayed awake all afternoon. Apparently, he didn't want to miss a second of what was going on while visitors were here. He cried and cried every time we tried to put him down for a nap.

He finally went down at 5:15 p.m. I wouldn't be surprised if he is down for the count, although I expect he will wake up in the night to nurse.